Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament is to reconvene Monday to finalize new bills that will set the ground rules for elections in June and for the country's post-Suharto political life.

The Suharto-era parliament is racing against a January 28 deadline to complete fine-tuning the government-proposed bills so the country can prepare for general elections promised for June 7.

Jakarta – More than 130 new political parties have sprouted up since May of last year when the reformation era was ushered in, but will the people entrust these parties with their hopes for democracy?

Jakarta – Renewed violence and killings underscored tension Saturday in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon after days of rioting that left 45 dead and massive destruction, residents said.

"Five people were killed and burned in the middle of the road this morning in the Mangga Dua area," a witness working for a local newspaper told AFP by telephone.

Jakarta – Sporadic clashes between two ethnic groups have flared up in West Kalimantan, claiming four lives and injuring one man seriously. The clashes took place in Parit Setia village, Jawai subdistrict, 200 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Pontianak, Antara reported yesterday.

Jakarta – A court Friday ruled against an Indonesian student activist arrested on suspicion of abducting a police intelligence officer, saying his claim to have been illegally arrested could not be proven.

Former President Suharto drew the anger of a group of dispossessed villagers yesterday on a rare trip out of the Indonesian capital. About 150 people protested against Suharto in the Java island town of Solo, where the ex-army general travelled earlier this week to visit the grave of his wife.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Recruitment of a civilian militia has started in the capital, amid growing fears these bamboo-stick wielding men could foment trouble in the coming months.

A Jakarta military command spokesman said recruitment began on January 11. Recruits must be male, aged between 18 and 45 and possess at least junior high school qualifications.

Jakarta – At least five outbreaks of mob violence on Indonesia's Java island marred the two-day Moslem Eid al-Fitr holiday in addition to rioting in Maluku in which 20 died, officials and reports said Thursday.

Surabaya – Five people accused of being black magicians were murdered over the past two weeks in Indonesia's East Java province, a cleric said on Thursday.

"It is so sad that ... the killing of alleged black magicians is not yet over ...," said Fairul Anam, who heads an investigation into the violence for Nahdlatul Ulama, a Moslem organisation.

Margot Cohen, Ujung Pandang – More than 30 years ago, Rahmat Hasanuddin boarded a canoe at a remote hamlet on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and journeyed in search of higher education. Eventually he reached Ujung Pandang, the capital of South Sulawesi province; then he went on to Jakarta and even the United States, becoming a management consultant and academic along the way.

Jakarta – Security forces patrolled three remote eastern Indonesian islands and imposed a curfew Friday after days of deadly rioting by rival mobs of Christians and Muslims.

Jakarta – Bloody rioting among rival mobs of Christians and Muslims flared for a third straight day Thursday on a remote island in eastern Indonesia. At least 22 people were killed, police said.

They feared the death toll could rise as religious strife intensifies on Ambon Island, 2,300 kilometers northeast of the capital, Jakarta.

Wahyu, Jakarta – After consolidating itself theoretically and organisationally in the beginning of the 1990s, the People's Democratic Party (PRD) began organising with workers.

Jakarta – The family members of former Indonesian Communist Party – PKI – members could not only vote or be elected but could also form a political party providing they did not deviate from the national ideology, Pancasila.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta district court Monday ruled that a student activist, arrested on suspicion of abducting a police intelligence officer should be released as his arrest did not follow legal procedures.

David Liebhold, lhokseumawe – On the northwestern tip of Indonesia, the proud people of Aceh have been dreaming of independence for nearly 100 years. Last week they got tired of waiting.

Andrew Gilligan – The Indonesian army has admitted for the first time that it tortures people "sometimes", during an investigative "sting" by a television stand-up comedian.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Watching the Indonesian military is much like watching the Soviet Kremlin of yesteryear. Obscure generals swapping positions within a labyrinthine armed forces (ABRI) bureaucracy are perennial affairs. But Indonesia watchers find it fascinating, and military chief General Wiranto obliged earlier this month by announcing a revamp of his senior command.

Greg Earl, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has warned domestic critics it would be courting disaster to back away from a 300 trillion rupiah ($50 billion) bank recapitalisation program which is about to begin.

Clashes among residents from several villages in the district of Sabbang in LUWU regency which have killed at least three people and injured dozens more continued on Thursday.

Jakarta – The country's crippled rupiah tumbled again on Friday to hit an intraday low of 9,300 against the U.S. dollar as stock prices plunged 1.5 percent for the third consecutive day.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have shot 41 highway robbers and arrested 362 others along the northern Java island coast as part of a drive to safeguard travelling for millions of people during the Moslem Eid-el-Fitr celebrations.

Jakarta – Several former high-ranking military and government officers, staunchly critical to the Habibie government, are set to officially launch a new political party in Jakarta today.

Jakarta – The total number of Indonesian now living in poverty has reached 130 million, a sharp increase from 80 million in mid-last year, an official report said Friday. Two years ago, the number of the poor in the crisis-ridden Indonesia was only 20 million.

Hundreds of students demonstrated outside the Aceh regional assembly – DPRD – calling for a referendum expressing their deep disappointment with the central government's failure to call human rights violators in Aceh to account.

Jakarta – Some 25,000 police will be deployed in the Indonesian capital to keep order during the Moslem Eid-el-Fitr holiday next week, a report said Thursday.

"We are deploying 25,000 personnel to safeguard security in the capital area druing Lebaran (Eid-el-Fitr)," Jakarta police chief Major General Nugroho Jayusman said, according to the Media Indonesia daily.

Jakarta – A professor at the state-run University of Indonesia (UI) Wednesday took off his blue government-issue shirt at a campus here to symbolize the teaching staff's break from the ruling Golkar party.

Jakarta – A controversial Indonesian minister has broken ranks with the ruling Golkar party ahead of general elections in June, raising speculation he has his own political ambitions, sources and reports said Wednesday.

Jakarta – "Deep mistrust" among factions and government representatives has been blamed for the House of Representatives' failure on Tuesday to notch up any progress in its deliberation of the political role of the country's 4.1 million public servants.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), currently experiencing its lowest level of popularity, is likely to get up to 40 seats in the House of Representatives, according to the latest deliberations of new political bills.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia's military said on Wednesday it would court-martial 27 soldiers accused of torturing to death civilians in the restive province of Aceh.

Jakarta – In one of Indonesia's first student protests of 1999, a small group of activists demonstrated Thursday against the arrests of two students on kidnapping charges.

Some 30 students gathered outside the South Jakarta District Court, where the two suspects face trial for allegedly abducting and torturing a plainclothes policeman at a Nov. 27 rally.

Andrew Marshall, Jakarta – The Indonesian rupiah dropped more than five percent against the dollar on Wednesday on regional weakness, fears of fresh domestic unrest and wrangling over the new budget.

[The following is a summary translation of two reports from Siar news service posted by Down To Earth.]

Jakarta – At least 39,800 hectares of plantations were looted during 1998, causing an estimated material loss of around Rp 196 billion (about US$26 million), a senior official of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations has said.

Bandung – West Java Police Chief Major General Chairuddin yesterday said his office would deploy sharpshooters along coastal roads to protect travelers during the post-Ramadhan festivities of Idul Fitri.

Dozens of snipers will assist hundreds of existing security forces dressed to save millions of motorists from possible attacks, looting and theft, he said.

It's late on Saturday afternoon, but the man who runs the fourth-largest nation on earth isn't anticipating any weekend relaxation. I have the mentality of a bicycle, says President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie of Indonesia. If I stop, I fall.

Jakarta – Indonesia could lose US$5 billion in foreign investment due to political and security problems, Investment Minister Hamzah Haz was quoted as saying yesterday.

Jakarta – The ruling Golkar party's insistence that civil servants be allowed to join political parties is caused by a "sinking ship syndrome", because it sees the bureaucracy as its only lifeboat, says a political analyst.

Atika Shubert, Lhokseumawe – Muhammad, a 20-year old villager near the town of Lhokseumawe, was shot in the leg last week during the Indonesian military's latest campaign to quell separatist ambitions here in the restive province of Aceh. His grandfather, M.

Jakarta – Women activists and scholars, demanding a greater say in politics, are urging that at least 30 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives be allotted to women legislators.

Jakarta – Student movement groups have vowed to take to the streets of the capital again shortly after the Idul Fitri holidays to voice their strong objections to this year's planned general election, their leaders said Monday.

Jakarta – The Jordanian ambassador yesterday said former president Soeharto's reviled son-in-law, Prabowo Subianto, who is suspected of engineering a series of kidnappings and mass riots, had never applied for citizenship in his country.

Serambi-Jakarta – Kontras, the Commission for Missing Persons and to Combat Violence, believes that ABRI, the armed forces, must take responsibility for the assault on detainees during which four persons died. The incident must be thoroughly investigated, said Munir, the director of Kontras in a press conference in Jakarta.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The nation's greatest living writer, imprisoned by former president Suharto, is trying to reclaim the house taken from him 33 years ago. So far, he is having little luck.

"It feels like just more spite and revenge against me," said Pramoedya Ananta Toer from the house in which he has spent years under house arrest.

Jakarta – Two activists kidnapped in the last months of the Suharto regime Tuesday refused to testify about their ordeal at the court martial of 11 soldiers charged with the abduction of scores of political campaigners.

But a third witness, politician Haryanto Taslam of the Indonesian Democracy Party of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, agreed to give his testimony.

Jakarta – Some 3,000 workers at a tile factory in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, held a massive protest yesterday to press their demands for Idul Fitri bonus payouts. The workers also demanded that members of the firm's internal cooperative be sacked, because they always "squandered" the obligatory contributions of the staff.

Jakarta – The government is scheduled to repeal the Subversion Law next week in response to fierce public criticism and in order to bring the Criminal Code into accordance with the recently approved anti-torture convention.

Angela Tresnasari, Jakarta – Indonesia's military said on Monday it had arrested 30 soldiers in the restive province of Aceh for beating to death and torturing suspected separatist rebels at the weekend.

Jakarta – This city is facing the prospect of buckling under the strain of a number of serious social problems resulting from sharp increases in the number of jobless people and a continuing influx of migrants, a government official has warned.